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Reviewers whose names have been added to the signal management components of the application are eligible for automatic assignment to drugs. You can either assign reviewers to drugs when adding or editing a drug, or use a process that automatically assigns selected reviewers to drugs for which there are new cases since an indicated time period.
The automatic assignment process affects only drugs that have been set up to participate in automatic assignment. (You must have checked Participates in auto-assignment when adding or editing the drug.) The process looks at drugs for new cases since the time period you select, and allows you to distribute the drugs evenly over selected reviewers. Because these drugs might already have assignments (due to previous cases), the automatic assignment process can result in re-assignments. Drugs for which there are no new cases (since the last period), but that have been set up to participate in automatic assignment, have their reviewer assignments cleared.
The following table shows how assignments of reviewers to drugs that have been set up to participate in automatic assignment are affected by the automatic assignment process:
|
|
Have new cases |
Do not have new cases |
|
Already Assigned |
Re-assigned if you select them. Retain previous assignments if you do not select them. |
Assignments are cleared. |
|
Unassigned |
Assigned if you select them. Remain unassigned if you do not select them. |
Remain unassigned. |
The application does the following during the automatic assignment process:
1. Orders the drugs in ascending order of the number of new cases.
2. For the first drug in the ordered list, assigns the first reviewer in the list of Selected reviewers that you have chosen.
3. For the next drug in the ordered list, assigns the next reviewer in the list of Selected reviewers.
4. Continues to assign drugs until all drugs have been assigned. When the application reaches the end of the list of Selected reviewers, the applications starts again with the first reviewer in the list.
When a drug that is already assigned to a reviewer is re-assigned, no attempt is made to retain the currently assigned reviewer. However, it is possible for the drug to be re-assigned to the same reviewer coincidentally.
You can force a drug that appears in new cases to retain its current assignment by excluding it from the automatic assignment process.
At the end of the automatic assignment process, the application displays the automatic assignments that have been made to drugs and you have the opportunity to override assignments. You can also override the automatic assignment for a drug on the Automatic Assignment page or by editing a drug and changing the reviewer.